Aftershock rattles northern N.B. 35 years after province's largest quake

A remote part of northern New Brunswick was shaken by a mild earthquake in theexactlocation that served as theepicentreof the province's largest recorded earthquake 35 years ago.

The quake that happened in late May was an aftershock, said Karl Butler, aprofessorof geology at the University of New Brunswick.

There were no reports from locals, or any recorded damage, from the quake, whichtook place in theIslandLake area, a remote part of the province between Plaster Rock and Miramichi.

"It was a 3.0 magnitude quake," Butler said,"so not a major earthquake, bit significant because of where it originated from."

While no person reported theearthquake because of its remotelocation,seismometers in McAdam recorded the event on May 29 at 12:34:28 ADT.

"Despite it being decades later, we recognize this as an aftershock," said Butler. "It occurred in the exact same location as the magnitude 5.7 and 5.4 of 1982, January 1982."

"That's the largest earthquakes ever recorded in the history of our province. It's not uncommon to have aftershocks continue decades after a large earthquake."

Earthquakes registering a magnitude of about3.0 are not uncommon in New Brunswick. This is the second recordedrumble of its size in the province in the past year.

Aftershocks, which happen with the settling that occurs after a quake, are also not unknown years after the original earthquake.